Reset
by hUeS -of- h a z e l
Summary: Sticks and stones may break my bones, but the truth won't always hurt me. "If it's busted, break it again." "Sometimes you have to if you want to fix it right." AU
1. Chapter 1

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r e s e t**.**

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_Sticks and stones may break my bones, but the truth won't always hurt me._

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Through the streaming rain, Gwen saw him running. Obscured as he was by the foggy curtain of torrential rain, the malformed silhouette of his body was unmistakable. "Kevin," she breathed. The roaring storm swallowed the sound of it as soon as his name left her mouth. She stood there for a moment, panting, blinking, numb to the wet now that even her thick, fleecy hoodie was swollen with water, hanging from her shoulders as though it was made of lead. Then he was gone. She pursed her lips and ran after him anyway, not needing to see him to follow. Concentrating, she reached out beyond herself and sought him, sought his energy, attached herself to his spirit. _Got you_, she thought, feeling him give in surprise.

Soon she came to a line of trees; beyond it was a ditch, and in the ditch lay Kevin. She stopped at the top and smirked down at him, mopping the sopping hair from her face that was now too heavy for her barrette to keep in check. He slowly rose to his knees, holding his head with one grotesquely large hand, before looking up at her to snarl with his bright and inhuman eyes.

"_Tennyson_."

"Well, well, well," Gwen yelled at him over the rain. "Never thought I'd ever see _you_ again."

"Yeah, well, God has a shitty sense of humor," he spat back. "Leave me alone, I'm not here to cause trouble, okay?" He struggled as he began to rise to his feet; despite his neutral declaration, despite his physical unsteadiness, Gwen's posture fell fluidly into an aware and defensive stance as she watched him clambor to his feet. _Oh, I totally believe you, freak_. His strange eyes crossed as he swayed but still he managed to keep his footing in the mud. Even standing hunched in a rather deep ditch while clutching his head, Gwen gaped at his utter _hugeness_; three years of growth did nothing to even the odds between their heights. Despite shooting up a good foot since the last time she saw him, she was still a dwarf in comparison to his alien body. _He's got to be double my height_, she thought in amazement._ I didn't think he could still grow._

"Shit," he hissed. Gwen blinked as his voice reached her ears and she realized the rain had now let up to a more tolerable level. "What the hell did you do to me, you brat?"

Gwen's jaw clenched. "I sapped your spiritual energy," she snapped. "Good luck climbing out of that ditch. It'll be a good hour before you can even walk right again. While you're stuck down there, might as well tell me why you were creeping my house!"

Kevin looked up at her through his stringy hair and bared his teeth. "Are you deaf? I just told you I'm not here to start anything. I don't have to tell you nothing."

"Do you really expect me to _believe_ that?" Gwen gestured to him incredulously. "What, do you think I just _forgot who you are_? It hasn't been _that_ long, Kevin."

"Fuck you!" he snarled. "You don't know _anything_ about me, you little preppy—AGH!" Kevin flew back into the swampy ground, heavily. Gwen's fingers sizzled as she stared down at where he lay sprawled, groaning, in the mud. With a lazy wave of her hand, she floated down into the ditch, landing at his feet, and crossed her arms.

"I know enough," she said. "You're still a jerk."

Kevin gasped as he rolled his head, looking up at her with unfocused eyes. "When did you learn to _do_ that…?" he slurred.

Gwen raised her arm. "Guess what? It doesn't matter." Blue light flickered to life over her open palm, forming a perfect sphere of condensed and tempered energy. It flattened into a disk and stretched, reaching towards him. Kevin's body was limp as Gwen wrapped his torso with the glowing ribbon, raising his body into the air. The most he managed as she lifted him from the ground were suddenly wide and lucid eyes; he stared at her standing beneath him in the rain, fixated, as though seeing her for the first time.

"I don't really care about you," she said bluntly. "I don't care about your hobbies or your interests or even how you escaped the null Void. All I care about are the people I love, and your motives towards them. Old habits die hard, Kevin, and I'm not stupid." Kevin watched her sharply-shaped eyes narrow and as the rain began to finally stop. "Stay away from my family. Stay away from Ben. Or else."

With that, she closed her hand and dropped her arm; with a cry Kevin fell back to the ground with a splash. Gasping, he scrambled to prop himself up on his elbows and watched as she turned from him, watched as she walked away and nimbly climbed the steep incline out of the ditch, disappearing over the rise.

"_Damn_," he rasped when she was gone.

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**A/N:** I effing hate-_HATE_-Alien Force. It butchered my beautiful, beautiful characters! That meat head is not the Kevin I love, and that sue is not Gwen I adore! Canon Gwevin or not! FUCK YOU, CARTOON NETWORK. FUCK YOU.

This fic has been a long time coming. It blatantly disregards the failwhale that is Alien Force, so turn back now if you don't like that. Updates will be irregular. But I fully intend to write this story and do the REAL characters and REAL Gwevin pairing justice!

SAIL ON, SOLDIERS, SAIL ON. WE'VE GOT THE INTERNET. (please review!)


	2. Chapter 2

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These things take time to grow;  
It's been said that time heals wounds  
But no, I won't be controlled  
And so, this story goes.

- _Stay With Me_, You Me at Six

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**G**wen woke up in her bed when the sunlight hit her face. She stirred, turning her head away from the intense morning light, and groaned as dull pain rushed to her temples with the movement.

"Geez," she garbled. She brought a hand up into her hair; it was tangled and rough with frizz, her scalp oily beneath the tips of her fingers. Facing away from her window, she opened her eyes with some effort, blinking away the thick sleep that had glued them together some time in the night. For a few minutes she laid in her bed with full intention not to move or think until it was necessary, until, with a jolt, she remembered Kevin.

"…Ugh."

Gwen sat up, wincing as her head throbbed, and threw back her blanket. Slowly, she stood from her bed and trudged out of her room. In the bathroom, the lights blinded her. Rather uncharacteristically, she cursed their efficient energy saving brightness as she reached for the medicine cabinet over the sink. Squinting, she barely even bothered with looking at herself in the mirror as she swung it open and pushed bottles around in search of the extra strength Tylenol. She popped two into her mouth and swallowed them dry before shuffling downstairs.

Bright, warm sunlight poured into the house from every window, making her head pound and eyes burn. It was especially blinding in the kitchen, where the walls were painted pastel yellow; Ken was sitting at the table spooning in some sort of sugary breakfast cereal from the bowl sitting in front of him. Gwen wandered over to the chair across from him and sat, leaning her elbows on the table and dropping her head into her hands.

Ken watched his younger sister curiously as he chewed. "You look like hell," he commented around his mouthful of food. Her body rose and fell as she sighed.

"I feel like it too," she replied, then fell silent again. A few minutes passed as Ken finished his breakfast; he dropped his spoon back into his bowl and stood to bring it to the sink.

He turned back to look at her. "You weren't _drinking_ last night, were you?" he asked surreptitiously. Leaning against the counter, he regarded Gwen with a look that was a cross between worry and understanding. "I mean, I won't tell mom and dad. It's cool if you were, but…"

"God, Ken, I'm not hungover," she moaned. "It's…it's that time of the month, okay?"

"Okayokayokayokay!" Ken threw his hands in the air in a gesture of placation, eyes wide. "Forget I asked, forget I asked." He quickly put the cereal away and left the room.

Gwen hadn't gotten her period yet, but he didn't have to know that. _God, _please _don't let him tell mom,_ she prayed. Soon the medication began to kick in; the pain in her temples was lessening to a degree that would allow her to function a bit more normally. As her head cleared, memories from the night before began to surface; at around 10 o'clock, Gwen had sensed an alien presence close by as she was reading in her room, and investigated. The last person she had expected to find was the mutated Kevin Levin creeping around in her back yard.

But the spell she had used on him was a bit more than an energy zapping trick.

"Maybe I shouldn't have used it," she mumbled to herself. It had left her weak. She barely had the strength to climb the stairs and change her clothes when she made it back to her house. _Then again,_ she thought. _Now_ _I can track that freak almost anywhere he goes._

_Like if he tries to go near Ben._

Running a hand through her hair, Gwen stood with a sigh. "I need to call Grandpa."

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"No _freaking_ way."

Gwen shrugged helplessly. "It's true."

Ben sighed. "Man. Well, I guess it was bound to happen eventually." He leaned back in his seat, folding his hands behind his head, closing his eyes. Gwen stared.

"_Ben_," she said. "Aren't you a little, I don't know, _concerned_?"

Ben, in question, cracked open a single green eye. Regarding his cousin thoughtfully, he shrugged. "I guess I should be."

"No _kidding_! You don't have the omnitrix anymore, remember?"

Ben sat up, grinning. With a wink he pointed at Gwen with his index finger, thumb raised, imitating a gun. "No, but I do have _you_. Didn't you just kick his butt?" He emphasized his question by cocking his hand back as though shooting a single bullet. "Easily, might I add."

Gwen rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "You're a dolt! It _wasn't_ easy. I woke up feeling like someone had run me over with a truck this morning. The spell I used on Kevin made him weak enough for me to throw him around a bit, but it had worse effects on me than it did him. Believe me," she added. "The only reason I was able to do what I did was because he didn't know about my powers. _Now_ he can anticipate what I can do and retaliate. In other words, you should be worrying."

Ben frowned. "Can't you just do that freaky spirit-zap thing again?"

Gwen gaped at him incredulously. "_No!_" she snapped. "Don't you _listen_? My magic is—"

"Alright you two, cut it out." Max gave them both a look, and they quickly closed their mouths. Gwen moved over from her standing position in the middle of the aisle to make room as her grandfather stood. "Ben," he said. "You're cousin's right. We should be worrying. Kevin as we knew him was a disturbed young man, and I doubt a couple years in the Null Void has changed that. We don't know what he's capable of, how his powers have grown." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. He turned to Gwen.

"You said that you can track him now, right?"

She nodded.

"Then maybe Ben's right, too. Maybe you should stay with him until we figure out what to do."

Gwen made a face. "Well…I guess."

Beside her, Ben smirked. "Told you."

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Gwen and Ben went straight to her house from Max's R.V. "Ken," she called as she ran upstairs to her room. "I'm staying at Ben's tonight!" When she heard no reply, she told Ben to go and find him as she packed her things.

"No one's around," he told her as she finished zipping her duffle bag closed. She stood, swinging it over her shoulder, and the two walked out of her room.

"Guess I'll leave a note."

Later, they sat together on Ben's bed, each furiously tapping at the game controller in their hands.

"No, no, no, _NO_," Ben cried as Gwen's pixelated character body-slammed his. "K.O.!" the T.V. announced as the last chunk of his health disappeared.

"Ha-HA!" Gwen cheered.

"You _cheated_," he accused.

"That's what you always say when I beat you at video games."

"That's because it's the only reasonable explanation!"

She giggled. Ben shoved her off the bed.

"Hey!" she cried from the floor.

Ben grabbed the pillow off his bed and stood over her. "K.O.!" he yelled as he gleefully brought it down on her head. She shrieked, scrambling away from him.

"You little brat!" She stretched out her hand as he raised the pillow over his head, enveloping it in a field of energy just before he moved to bring it down on her again. With a twitch of her finger, she yanked it from his hands and thwacked him with it in the face.

"Cheater! _CHEATER_!" he shouted, throwing his arms up in a weak attempt to defend himself as the glowing pillow attacked relentlessly.

Suddenly, Gwen stopped laughing. "Whoa," she said, bringing a hand up to her head. The pillow dropped to the floor with a dull plop. Ben rushed to her side as she swayed.

"Gwen, are you okay?" He grasped her shoulders gently, steadying her. With her head bowed, her bangs fell to obscure her face. "Gwen?" he said.

"Yeah," she breathed. "Yeah, I'm—" She gasped, her head snapping back up, eyes wide. "He's here."

Not understanding, Ben squeezed her shoulders in concern. "What? Gwen, maybe you should sit—"

Gwen turned, caught his eyes. "Kevin's here."

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Outside, the sun was beginning to sink in the sky. "Where is he, exactly?" Ben asked as they ran down the sidewalk.

"He was in the backyard, but now he's somewhere behind us," she panted. "We need to get to the Rustbucket before he catches up."

Ben observed her unnaturally pale skin, tinted orange in the sunlight, and pursed his lips. "Okay," he said.

"Crap!" Gwen spat breathlessly. "He's gaining!" The two could do nothing but keep running, but soon the loud buzzing of what they knew were Kevin's wings reached their ears. A block away from the trailer park, Kevin's hulking form dropped from the sky and landed in front of them.

Ben and Gwen stopped, watching as he rose to a towering ten-foot height. "Long time no see," Kevin rumbled, ignoring Gwen to stare at her cousin.

"Whoa," Ben breathed.

Gwen stepped in front him, bent her knees and raised her arms. Her hands glowed faintly.

Kevin stepped back. "Hey, hey, wait a sec. I'm not here to—" he stopped, blinking his mis-matched sets of eyes. He gazed at Ben. "Where's the omnitrix?" he asked.

Gwen snorted, eyes bright in the setting sun. "In a place you'll never find it, freak."

Kevin bared his teeth. His crystallized arm shone as he raised it to point at her. "Listen, I _need_ the omnitrix—"

"We know," Ben interrupted.

Kevin growled, steeping forward menacingly. With a cry Gwen spun towards him, arms flaring blue, and thrust her hands out. As they connected with his body, the concentrated energy exploded. He stumbled back, falling hard. Ben reached for his cousin as she dropped to her knees.

"Gwen!"

"Get back, Ben!" With visible effort, Gwen stood and ran at Kevin, who was just starting to rise. Ben watched helplessly as Gwen yelled, tackling the mutant's head, sending them both back to the ground.

Kevin grunted. "Get offa me!" He reached for her with both hands as Gwen's fingers knotted themselves in his hair; she curled her legs around his huge neck and squeezed as hard as she could.

"You're _never_ hurting Ben again," she hissed at him. He gasped, staring at her face as she sent as much power as she could muster into the tips of her fingers.

"Holy sh—AGH!" He grasped her body, nearly crushing her ribs as he tried to pry her off him. "_Stop!_"

Something happened then; Gwen felt power rush into her as she sent it out, she felt it leaving and filling the body beneath her. It filled her too, seized her nerves and accosted her with images that she realized, somewhere beyond the pain that felt like every molecule in her body was being torn apart, were memories. She lost control. She was flowing, he was flowing, nothing was real, and everything was one. Suddenly she felt too big for her own body, too big for his body, but she couldn't get out no matter how hard she tried, couldn't make sense of anything beyond herself and him and _the energy_.

Then everything stopped. At first, she felt dim and heavy. Then she began to take in sound, familiar sound, screaming sound, and soon she could feel her body; it was numb, frozen in place. Warmth flooded her nose. At last, she saw; but all she could register as she began to lose consciousness was that the wide brown eyes staring up at her were human and distantly familiar.

Gwen passed out.

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**A/N:** Well. I'm not sure I like this one, but whatever. Here you go.

Writing Gwen's powers are fun, especially considering what she really is. I tried to set up stuff here, like Gwen's relationship with Ben and how underdeveloped her powers really are. And, of course, Kevin. He's still crazy, just not murderous anymore. All shall be explained and revealed with time.

Please let me know what you think! And if you pick up any errors, don't be afraid to make it known-I don't have a beta, so things are bound to slip through.


	3. Chapter 3

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It can be so bold and so cavalier  
To reach out to the fire her soul's sending here  
It can be like death that blows like a breeze,  
Making all one's strength go weak at the knees  
I hate to feel the shallow ground giving way;  
I've never let myself fall this much astray  
And feeding on her touch is all one does  
to survive.

-_Shove_, Angels and Airwaves

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**"_G_**_WEN!_"

The scream tore through Kevin's shock as drops of warm blood fell from Gwen's nose onto his cheek. He jerked as she fell on top of him, unconscious, before clambering to push her dead weight off. Her body rolled away easily and Kevin scrambled backwards onto the sidewalk, desperate not to be in contact yet unable to look away as blood oozed down her face. Her glassy eyes stared into sky, into nothing.

Ben appeared, dropping to his knees beside Gwen's body, and called her name over and over as he pressed trembling fingers to her neck. Her hair blazed in the sunlight, shifted as Ben touched her face, looked alive and bright like strands of fire, lying splayed over manicured grass.

Kevin's mouth opened and closed repeatedly until, finally, words spilled out: "I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean to, I don't know what happened, I-I—" He shivered, suddenly cold, unable to say anything beyond the wild chattering of his teeth.

A screech pierced the air as Max's R.V. ground to a stop in front of them. Ben, bent over his cousin's face, didn't seem to notice as their grandfather burst out of the trailer, pale as his own hair, yelling, "Oh God, oh, God, _no_…"

Kevin's eyes darted from the scene in front of him, suddenly remembering where he was; around them people were beginning to emerge from their houses, pointing, dialing numbers on their cell phones. He spotted some running towards them, calling things he couldn't hear. Max suddenly whirled on him, wide eyes black like holes and bright with moisture. His teeth were bared. Kevin stared at him, all at once out of breath.

Seconds passed before Max said, with a voice that was calm in a way that was very frightening, "Get in the R.V."

Abruptly aware that he was sitting naked on a public sidewalk, Kevin obeyed.

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**T**he silence was heavy in a way that Kevin had never known before. He sat, dazed, on the bed in the back of the bus and stared down at his pale, soft, human hands. _I'm human_, he thought, over and over again. _I'm human._

The R.V. rocked as Max drove down a stretch of road lit by amber streetlights. The most he said when he climbed back into the trailer was that they were going to the hospital; and since then, nothing. Kevin didn't remember wandering to the back or sitting down on the bed; all he could process was the pallor of his skin, its texture, the glossiness of his thick hair as locks of it hung over his shoulder and tickled his chest. And the possibility that he may have killed Gwendolyn Tennyson without even intending to.

He'd never killed anyone accidentally before.

The air of the R.V. felt thick and hot despite the fact he wasn't wearing anything. It was a physical heat at the same time that it was an emotional one. The feeling was alien. Kevin flexed his hands, watched the way his fingers curled. _I'm human._

It was then that he realized how fallible reality felt.

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**K**evin started as a bundle of clothes landed at his feet. Blinking, he looked up at Max, and then wished he hadn't. The expression the man wore as he stood over him was menacing, sharp, yet controlled, and his eyes shone unnaturally in the dim light with tears that obviously still hadn't fallen.

"Put those on," he commanded. His voice was quiet.

Unable to look at him anymore, Kevin ducked his head and nodded. His hair spilled around his face, falling to touch the floor as he bent down to pick up the white tee-shirt that appeared too small and the black drawstring sweat pants that appeared too big. Max opened the door and stepped outside; Kevin pulled on the clothes hurriedly to follow. On the table past the teeny staircase a brown elastic sat, barely visible in the florescent lights that filtered through the slats on the window blinds. Kevin stopped to grab it and hastily tied his hair back at the nape of his neck. The strands came together in a thick mass, the rubber band pulling at them painfully.

Outside, the summer air was humid. Max was walking towards the entrance of the hospital, which was large and made of up of many stories. The automatic glass doors slid open with a hiss as the two approached.

For whatever reason, Kevin chose this time to say something.

"I don't know what happened," he confessed. "I didn't mean to hurt her." The sound of his own voice startled him; it was deeper than what he remembered, smoother than what he'd grown used to since that point. He slid his tongue against his teeth, tasting the memory of sound and the texture of the plaque festering in his mouth.

Max stopped walking as a wave of conditioned air hit them and the doors behind them slid shut. Kevin stopped too, waiting for his reply, for a reaction of any sort.

Moments passed; Max stood with his back to the boy, clenching and unclenching his fists. Finally, he turned to regard him; Kevin was grim, pale, thin. Two streaks of dried blood stained his left cheek, under eyes rimmed in dark, dark lashes, set in a face shaped so familiarly that Max could hardly bear the sight of him.

"I don't know that."

Kevin swallowed.

"My granddaughter is likely dead, or something very close to it." Max's voice wavered. He paused to clear his throat. "And whether you meant to or not, the fact that this happened is because of you."

Kevin didn't know how to reply to that, because it was true. Max turned away and began to walk again.

"_Stay close_," he called back. His words were strong and sure, the threat in them clear as day; and for a moment he almost sounded alright.

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**A/N:** Enter Kevin, folks. This was interesting to write, that's for sure. I like the way it came out (for the most part); I'd really appreciate some feedback. =]

For the record, this story takes place three years after the original Ben 10; Ben and Gwen are 13, and Kevin is 14.


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